Hey NARAL, old friend. We've known each other for many years. We've fought many battles together. We've suffered. We've cried. We always stood together to do what we knew was right. We remained vigilant, even when much of the country began to take our cause for granted, assuming it had been won. We knew better. We knew our opponents would never relent. We knew they were obsessed. We knew we had to fight them at all times, on all fronts, on every single relevant issue, no matter how seemingly minor. I was proud to support you. I was proud and honored that you were there, defending women, defending all who believed government had no business telling women what to do with their own bodies. I assumed you would be there, forever.
I'm not going to recount the battles of the past year. I'm not going to recount every detail of the fight to defeat the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. We all knew it would be tough. We all knew that both the numbers and the media would be working against us. We all knew that Alito would be an enemy to women's choice. We all knew that if he replaced Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court, Roe v. Wade itself would be in danger of being overturned. The battle lines were clear. You were our champion. You should have been our champion. Then, something happened.
Let's face it: you've been at this a long time. You knew that our only chance to defeat Alito was with a filibuster. The only vote that mattered was the cloture vote. If Alito's supporters could kill the filibuster, they could assure his confirmation. I'll let the great Jane Hamsher tell the story:
But what did NARAL do when the time came? Nothing.
The conventional wisdom in Washington these days seems to be that the Democratic party will be just fine if it shifts dramatically to the right and "goes with the flow." NARAL was birthed by pioneering feminists like Betty Friedan who had fire in their bellies, but somewhere along the line they became an institutional behemoth who wanted to court the rich and the powerful more than they wanted to actually serve the cause that so many hard working Americans entrust them to do -- guard choice.
They began endorsing Republicans like Lincoln Chafee and giving money to Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. Yet when the Alito cloture vote went down -- the only meaningful vote, which could've been stopped with 40 "nay" votes from getting to the floor -- all of these people voted "aye." People like Chafee and Joe Lieberman later voted "nay" in the final vote which only required a simple majority of 51. They then ran around and huffing and puffing about this coathanger-wielding like they'd done something really brave on behalf of choice. Nobody was fooled.
Nobody was fooled. You know how the game is played. It wasn't a case of your not understanding the importance of the cloture vote. Something else happened. I don't know what. Maybe you've been at it too long. Maybe you're too fat and lazy and too inside-the-beltway. This was the most important single vote having to do with Choice in decades, and you punted. You are a single issue organization. You should fight for that issue with everything you have. You didn't. This was the most important single vote having to do with Choice in decades, and you punted! Then, you endorsed Lieberman again! I will not even begin trying to understand you. You had a single mission, and you failed. When the time came for the most important battle to be fought, you backed down. You walked away. You pretended to have taken a stand, but you hadn't. You failed.
On my desk is an invitation to a NARAL event. You want more of my money. Your statement about today's Supreme Court ruling includes the following:
Today's decision shows Bush's appointees have moved the Court in a direction that could further undermine Roe v. Wade and protections for women's health. The Court has given anti-choice state lawmakers the green light to open the flood gates and launch additional attacks on safe, legal abortion, without any regard for women's health.
No doubt. And no doubt that you will use that ruling to solicit even more money.
I won't be attending the event to which I've been invited. I won't be giving you any more money. My political money is better spent elsewhere. I support people who will not compromise in protecting a woman's right to choose. You compromised. You punted. You failed.
UPDATE:
In the comments, exiledfromTN has already received a fundraising email from NARAL. How cynical is that?
And kath25 suggests we now donate to the National Network of Abortion Funds!
annrose also suggests we now donate to the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy and the Feminist Majority Foundation Clinic Access Project!